Appliance leveler



June 1, 1965 R. PERL 3,185,670

APPLIANCE LEVELER Filed July 15, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NVEN TOR. 916101120 1. PERL June 1, 1965 R. L. PERL APPLIANCE LEVELER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 15, 1963 I NVENTOR. 210E420 L. PERL United States Patent 3,186,670 APPLIANCE LEVELER Richard L. Perl, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to The Tappan (Iornpany, Mansfield, (Eric, a corporation of Ohio Filed July 15, 1963, Ser. No. 294,974 6 Claims. (Cl. 248-1882) This invention relates in general to leveling mechanism and more particularly to a leveler with which appliances and the like can be readily vertically adjusted and leveled.

The surfaces upon which home appliances, for example, are supported are often sloping or irregular, and it is accordingly common practice to provide some form of adjusting device for leveling the unit in order to realize proper operation thereof. Present leveling devices are not always satisfactory or adequate for any of a variety of reasons. Thus, the extent to which the appliance can be tilted is frequently insufiicient to level the appliance where a substantially sloped floor condition is encountered; more often than not, the means for adjusting the supports on floor-engaging portions are not readily accessible and require clearance for access at both sides of the appliance as well as at the front.

A further defect in present leveling devices is in the marked inability to vertically raise or lower the appliance in any significant amount. Since home appliances are often of the built-in type, and there is an opening or cavity within which the appliance should be fairly exactly disposed, it is not uncommon that props to elevate the mm are needed in addition to the actual adjustable supports to secure proper register as well as the desired leveling at the elevated condition of the machine as a Whole.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide simply constructed and easily operable leveling mechanism for vertically adjusting and leveling an appliance and the like.

A further object is to provide appliance elevating and leveling mechanism having an extremely wide range of adjustment.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such leveling mechanism which can be fully and easily adjusted at the front of the appliance.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, broken away at the lower front corners, of an appliance having at each side a leveling device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a vertical section taken on line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a further fragmentary perspective view of a vertical section taken on line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of a portion of the leveler structure; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of such structure at another portion thereof.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, wherein like parts are indicated by like reference characters, an appliance is generally indicated at It and has downwardly depending fixed side panels 12 and 13 at the respective sides. The appliance is intended here to 3,186,670 Patented June 1, 1965 represent a dishwasher, but the elevating and leveling mechanism of the invention is capable of use with other types of units. Accordingly, the construction of this machine 10 is shown only in sufiicient detail to provide a clear understanding of the present improvements. The new leveling device will be described below in detail as it occurs at one side of the appliance, with the understanding that the other side is correspondingly similar in construction and operation. Both sides of the appliance can thus be vertically adjusted to the same or appropriately varying degree as desired.

Each bottom side panel 12 and 13 has a vertically adjustable support plate .14 in outer overlying relation, with these plates substantially coextensive with the panels therefore providing, for practical purposes, continuous floor support between the front and rear of the machine. Referring to FIG. 2, the side panel 12 is formed with an elongated, horizontally disposed slot 16 extending freely through which there is pin 18 for movement along such slot. The panel 12 further has a vertical, inwardly directed front flange 20 provided adjacent the lower end thereof with a notch 22, which receives a slotted end portion 24 of an actuator rod 26.

As best shown in FIG. 3, the support plate 14 is provided with three elongated openings, including a forward vertical opening 28, an intermediate inclined slot 30, and a rear vertical opening 32 in an outwardly emibossed section 33 of the plate. Vertical movement of this plate 114 relative to the side panel 12 is effected by means of the inclined slot 30, as will be hereinafter described, and the front and rear vertical openings 28 and 32, respectively, guide such vertical movement and also permit tilting of the appliance about the pin 18.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, the actuator rod =26 previously referred to is secured adjacent its forward slotted end by means of a'clamp member 34, the latter being 'aflixed to panel 12 by means of a lock bolt 36 which extends freely through thevertical front slot 28 in the panel 12 and threadedly through a clamping plate 38 at the outer face of the plate 14 and spaced therefrom *by a washer 39. The clamp 34 is formed with a semicylindrical portion 40 for engagement about a major portion of the rod 26, whereby the latter can be clamped against turning by a tightening of the lock bolt 36 and consequent forcing of the rod against the bottom of the notch 22 in the flange 29. To prevent longitudinal move: ment of the rod 26, the same is provided with a stop collar 42 engaged between the front edge of the clamp 34 and flange 20 of the panel 12. p

The opposite end of the actuator rod- 26 is formed with threads 44 in the region of and extending over a distance in excess of the length of a slot 16 formed in the side panel 12. The pin 18 has a threaded bore through which this portion of the rod extends in threaded engagement for adjustment of the pin back and forth by turning of the rod. A washer46 is interposed between the pin 18 and panel 12 for separation of the rod from the latter.

The pin projects throu-gh the inclined slot 30 of the support plate 14- and has an enlarged head 59 at the removed side of plate 14'to preclude withdrawal of the pin from such operative condition. A rivet 52 is fixed to the panel 12 and extends through the rear opening 32 in the embosed section 33 of the plate 14-, with this rivet serving as a further guiding interconnection between plate 14 and panel 12.

The manner in which the appliance 10 can be vertically adjusted by the described mechanism should now be apparent. bolt 36, turning of the rod 26, conveniently accomplished with a screwdriver engaged in its forward slotted end It will be seen that after unloosening the lock ployed.

24, effects longitudinal movement of the pin 18, the direction of such movement depending upon the direction of the turning of the rod. As the pin 18 is thus moved longitudinally on the rod, the inclined slot 30 in the side support plate 14 in effect cams the panel .12 up or down since plate 14 supports the weight of the machine on the floor. the height of the appliance, the rod is turned to drive the pin 18 rearward, whereby the machine panel 12 is progressively raised by virtue of the engagement of the pin in the rearwardly upwardly inclined slot 30 of support plate 14; When the appliance has been elfectlvely raised the desired amount, it being understood that the leveling devices on both sides of the appliance can be similarly adjusted to attain an elevated axis, the appliance is tilted either forward or backward about this axis as required to provide the level condition. The lock bolts 36 are then tightened to oncetagainst actuate the clamps 34 for securing rods 26 against further turning.

It will also be seen that theleveling devices of the tion of the appliance, as compared, vfor example, to the If it is desired to effect an overall increase in connector means thereby being operable .to cam said one member generally vertically relative to said other member, adjusting means disposed at one end of said members for controlling the direction of movement of said connector means, the said one member being tiltable relative to the said other member about said connector means, and means to clamp said members in their various conditions of adjustment.

'2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said connector means is threaded on an actuating rod, and the latter is restrained by stop means from longitudinal movement, whereby turning of the rod actuates the connector means.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said means to maintain said members in their relative adjusted conditightly engage said rod and thereby prevent turning therecommonly used screw-threaded adjustable feet at the corners of the unit. This advantage results from the fact that the elements forming the lift and tilt axis are intermediately disposed at the sides, rather than at the front or rear planes. In the form shown, the appliance can be elevated a distance equalling, the vertical meas urement of the inclined slot and tilting after such elevation can provide a very considerable difference in elevation between the front and vrear of the appliance.

The present improvements accordingly afford a range.

of adjustment not previously available, to the extent of meeting support conditions which would normally require shimming. the appliance'with some external means, an.

The new leveler also provides avery simple and con-.

venient mode of adjustment requiring-access only at the front of the appliance, whereby the same may be adtion may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated inj-any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be em- I therefore particularly pointout and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A leveling device for elfecting relative vertical and tilting movement between two adjacent vertically extend ing'members, one of said members being provided with [a horizontal slot intermediate the front and rear edges of. a

4. In combination, with an appliance, and the like, leveling mechanism comprising elongated support'members at the sides adjacent the lower side panels of such appliance, each of said members having front and rear vertically adjustable interconnections with the associated side of the appliance, cooperable cam members respectively carried by each support member and the associated side of the appliance, said cam members being interenga'ged at a location intermediate said front and rear interconnections, an actuator for driving one of said cam members extending from said intermediate lo cation substantially to the front of the appliance for access at the front, said actuator being operative relatively to raise and lower the connection of the particular support member and .the appliance at the occurrence of the cooperable cam members thereof, said cam members and vertically adjustable front and rear interconnections further providing tilting of the appliance about the cam engagement, and means for releasably locking each support member in its various conditions of adjustment relative to the appliance.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein the cam actuators are operative by turning thereof, andthe means for locking the support members are also accessi'ble'from the front of the appliance.

6. A leveling device for effecting relative vertical movement between two adjacent vertically extending members, each of said members being provided witha slot intermediatethe front and rear edges thereof, at least one of s'aid slots being inclined relative to the horizontal, connector means 1 extending through and movable along the .adjacent slots, said connector means thereby being operable to effect relative vertical movement between said members, adjusting means disposed at one end of said members for controlling the direction of movement of said connector means, one of said verti- References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,979,857 4/61 Longbotham 248-1881 3,071,887 1/63 Von Arb 248--23' FRANK a. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A LEVELING DEVICE FOR EFFECTING RELATIVE VERTICAL AND TILTING MOVEMENT BETWEEN TWO ADJACENT VERTICAL EXTENDING MEMBERS, ONE OF SAID MEMBERS BEING PROVIDED WITH A HORIZONTAL SLOT INTERMEDIATE THE FRONT AND REAR EDGES THEREOF, THE OTHER OF SAID MEMBERS BEING FORMED WITH AN INCLINED SLOT GENERALLY LONGITUDINALLY COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID SLOT IN SAID ONE MEMBER, CONNECTOR MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH AND MOVABLE ALONG THE ADJACENT SLOTS, AND CONNECTOR MEANS THEREBY BEING OPERABLE TO CAM SAID ONE MEMBER GENERALLY VERTICALLY RELATIVE TO SAID OTHER MEMBER, ADJUSTING MEANS DISPOSED AT ONE END OF SAID MEMBERS FOR CONTROLLING THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF SAID CONNECTOR MEANS, THE SAID ONE MEMBER BEING TILTABLE RELATIVE TO THE SAID OTHER MEMBER ABOUT SAID CONNECTOR MEANS, AND MEANS TO CLAMP SAID MEMBERS IN THEIR VARIOUS CONDITIONS OF ADJUSTMENT. 